We spent our morning exploring the fascinating island of Delos, a key religious and political center of the Cycladic world. Revered as the birthplace of Apollo, god of the sun, the island is said to be bathed in exceptionally bright sunlight; although that was the case today, a strong breeze kept us relatively cool as we toured the expansive site. In the sacred quarter of Delos, shrines and temples dating from the Bronze Age to the Hellenistic era attest to a steady stream of pilgrims throughout antiquity.
Although uninhabited today, the island boasts some of the best preserved remains of Hellenistic residential structures. These stone-built homes, some of three or four stories, were owned by wealthy merchants and ship owners who flocked to the island after Rome granted it free port status in the second century B.C. Spectacular mosaics, surrounded by a colonnade, masked the deep cisterns that held the home’s water supply. A visit to the site’s museum gave us an up-close look at some of these elaborate mosaics; the use of tesserae, small cubes of stone, to create the mosaic image allowed the artist to add minute detail to these beautiful works of art.
Our guided tour of this sacred island concluded with a visit to the ancient theater, with some of us continuing on to an unguided climb up Mount Kynthos. Those who labored up the mountain’s path were rewarded with a 360-degree view of the island and the sparkling seas beyond, with Sea Cloud anchored below, awaiting our return. After departing Delos, we set sails and relished another day of sailing the Aegean.
